As opposed to the traditional duels between the two great houses, the Montagues decide to jump the gun early and kill off the entire Capulet house when Juliet is just two years old. As the sole survivor, she is forced to change her name and outward gender appearance for fourteen years to prevent the corrupt Montague forces from finding and killing her. On her sixteenth birthday, all of this is revealed to her, and the Sword of Capulet is given to her as an inheritance of the family name.
To make things even more complicated, during the time in which she masqueraded as a boy (by name of Odin), she became a skilled swordfighter and began to don the title of "The Red Whirlwind." Hiding behind a cape and mask, she darted through the streets defending the weak and abused.
So, who is Juliet Fiammatta Arst De Capulet really? Or rather, who does Juliet have a right to be?
You see, halfway through the first episode we are made privy to the fact that Odin and Juliet are the same person. However, by the end of the third episode we see this segregation into two distinct identities with two distinct definitions. One of the trials faced by our protagonist is that she wants to retain the traits of both, but she is not allowed to do that.
Society tells Juliet to sacrifice her femininity because it is "the right thing to do" in order to restore the Capulet name when the proper time comes. The story even goes as far as to paint her attempts to restore her femininity as selfish until that time when it's contextually appropriate. When it does become contextually appropriate, the inverse occurs, and her life as the Red Whirlwind is treated with scorn by those around her.
The issue is that even though Odin was always a false identity, the trials and tribulations that identity faced were real, have meaning, and should not be cast aside for any reason. It should be understood that Juliet is Odin is Juliet, regardless of the name the character identifies with. People have multiple identities and multiple definitions, and a name is only meant to highlight the majority identity and the majority definition.
Real life is often subject to this same problem. Take the writer of this blog post (me) for example. My given name is Madeline Nicole Koller; my legal name (birth name) is Matthew Nicholas Koller. These are treated by society as two distinct identities with distinct definitions, which leads to all sorts of issues.
- Only the identity of Matthew can sign a legally binding contract, because only Matthew has a Social Security Number. However, the identity of Maddy is the default recognition by the people who interact with her (by seeing or hearing her). People who cannot establish the connection distrust her when she claims to be Matthew (and yes, this has actually happened to me when trying to present a Photo ID).
- Matthew was defined (up until age eighteen) as an honor student, the son of a law enforcement officer, and having some hobbies more in line with a male persona. For all intents and purposes, Matthew disappeared on September 20, 2011. Maddy, meanwhile, is defined as an educational worker, the daughter of a law enforcement officer, and having some hobbies more in line with a female persona. For all intents and purposes, she is considered to have no past. None.
Here's where I stand on this issue. Matthew Nicholas Koller is dead, and has been for four years. However, many definitions which made up his persona have since transferred to Maddy and as such, should be treated as her own. The fact that Maddy has male traits (be them biological or psychological) should be considered valid and relevant even though they are not her own. They shouldn't exactly be ignored since your past really does make up a lot of who you are.
But at the end of the day, the identity of Maddy remains my majority. I have a right to the definitions of my two halves, and I have a right to my majority identity. Just because I committed to one half does not mean the other half is written off. It doesn't work that way.
Just like how Juliet committing to one half does not write off her other half.
